Building Strong Home-to-School Connections

1. Building Strong Home-to-School Connections With more than 95% integration of Internet access into students’ homes, the Fayetteville-Manlius School District was looking for a solution to connect their ample school resources to their community (home) resources. OCM BOCES offered them Blackboard

2. OCM BOCES • A collaborative located in Syracuse, NY. • Provides a Blackboard Community System to 24 school districts in the area. • Provides training and support to those districts. • Offered to assist Fayetteville-Manlius with their desire to extend learning opportunities for students and allow more parental involvement and communications.

3. Fayetteville-Manlius • A nationally-recognized district serving 4,700 students • Home to 25,000 residents • Strives to communicate frequently and in a timely manner with district parents

4. We know parents want to connect: Mr. Chapman, We love the podcast! Our daughter has used it both times, and thinks that it is more than worthwhile. The whole website is amazing. We have told many other parents about it in other school districts and our friends at Camillus Middle School. We appreciate all your hard work.

5. To: msfryan@mcgrawschools.org Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 10:23:30 -0500 Subject: Blackboard Mrs.Fragnoli-Ryan, I wanted to take a moment to express my thanks to you and the entire MCS staff. Having the use of “Blackboard" is a wonderful way for parents to be able to get a sense of what is happening in our children's classrooms. As the parent of an 8th grade student it isn't always easy to get clear answers on the days or weeks events; having this new tool is just fabulous.

6. We know that teachers want to use Blackboard: “Thanks for making our use of Blackboard one of the highlights of our teaching and student learning.” Regents Biology teacher “I am enjoying Blackboard. I would like to register my students asap so that they can begin using the discussion board. Spanish Teacher “We are loving Blackboard this year!” Assistant Principal “Thank you so much for meeting with the Learning Center staff on Monday! The Blackboard workshop was enormously helpful as we start to build our site.” Learning Center Director

7. And students love it when it is used appropriately Following is a presentation of one of the most appropriately used sites we can demonstrate.

8. Purpose / Goals • Audience: 9th grade Earth Science students, parents, & teachers • Facilitate science education with digital media and parental involvement • Connect & enable all students, especially those with learning disabilities • Foster scientific discourse between students, teachers, and the community Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

9. Instructional Objectives • Enhance lectures & activities • Extend class-time beyond school hours • Grant students and parents 24/7 access to course learning materials at home • Vary assessment strategies to accommodate all learning styles • Integrate online tools into science learning that are familiar to tech-savvy kids Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

10. http://blackboard.ocmboces.org • Search ‘Hartwell’

11. Bb hits in school Bb hits at home! Bb Visits Data from 9/14/05 thru 12/27/05 Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

12. Reasons to Visit at Home • Copies of class notes & packets • Internet links, animations, games • Movie clips & audio files • Texas-Instrument Study Cards • Practice test questions & bonus credit • Whadya’ Say discussion board & Science Chat Room Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

13. Astronomy Word Search Puzzle Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

14. Keeping the connection open… • Davor: Ari is right. The words aren't in the puzzle. • Mr. Hartwell: You just have to know, not where, but how to look.  • Ari: you just gave a whole other dimension to it  • Davor: I have never overthought this much in my life!  • Mr. Hartwell: You live on Earth. An alien solving this puzzle would do so quickly because he/she/it exists in space. • Ari: I'm just about ready to die • Mr. Hartwell: Oh don't die please! • Mr. Hartwell: What if you kept flying in one direction as you left Syracuse but didn't land, where would you end up after many hours?  • Mr. Hartwell: Think about how the plane moves....not just level...  • Ari: but around? • [Mr. Hartwell left the session] Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

15. Flying Solo… • Davor: Ok, let's think about it. The last thing he told me was something about going around. • Ari: like...would it start on one side of the grid, then jump around to the other side • Davor: What if you take the puzzle and make it into a cilindrical shape?  • Ari: ok, well if you do that both ways, [two] of the words match up… Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

16. Astronomy Word Search Puzzle

17. Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

18. Testimonials • “Mr. Hartwell’s Blackboard site has interested me more in Earth Science!” • “I wish that other teachers would have Blackboard sites…” • “The [school] district prides itself on communicating frequently [with parents]… Blackboard has brought its many benefits to students, staff, and community.” • “Thanks for utilizing this tool and developing this skill in Drew. It will serve him well for the future.” Fayetteville-Manlius High School – Manlius, NY

19. Presenter Information Richard J. Hartwell rhartwell@fmschools.org http://www.fmschools.org Daniel Lake dlake@cnyric.org http://blackboard.ocmboces.org